Hogle Zoo

Gray always asks to go to the zoo for his birthday. This year we were thinking we would try the Milwaukee Zoo or Lincoln Park Zoo, but since we were on vacation in Utah it was off to Hogle Zoo again. Derek was still in Illinois so he didn't get to come with us (we missed you), but we did get to go with a whole bunch of other family members. We spent most of the day there & ended up tiring out most of the little kids. Hurray for nap time!!!!

Moo-tah

We can hardly believe that our vacation to "Mootah" (that is what Lindsey calls it) is finally here. The kids & I will be flying out tomorrow, & Derek will meet up with us over the weekend. We are all so excited we have been talking about this ever since we moved to Illinois. Here are some of the things we are dying to do-See our Grandma's & Grandpa, hang out with our friends & cousins, go to Hogle Zoo, have a sleep over, go to a Bees game, go fishing, eat at Rumbi Grill, Cafe Rio & Derek's all time favorite The New Dragon Diner. Get ready Mootah because here we come!

The Masked Theives

So last night as I was coming down the stairs from our bedroom I spotted a racoon outside coming up our walk; I quickly called Derek to check it out. This is the first live racoon we have seen since we have been here. (We have seen plenty not so alive on the side of the road.) When we went to unlock the front door to take a picture we scared it away into the back yard. So a couple hours later we are lying in bed & hear our trash lid close shut. Odviously, this little bugger is rummaging through our trash. So Derek decides he wants to get a video of this big guy, so he throws some shrimp out on the back deck as bait. While doing this he sees a baby racoon run away, now we know of two. Our plan at 11:30 is for me to go around to the side of the house & shine a flashlight on the racoon & get him out of the trash & hopefully to the backyard so that Derek can film him out the sliding glass door. Reluctantly I tiptoe outside, knowing at any moment a rabid racoon is going to come barrelling out of the bushes & attack me. I sneak around & I can't see him because it is pitch dark & I am holding the worlds smallest flashlight. I go inside & tell Derek that he is the man, & he should be the one going outside & I should be the one sitting inside with the video camera. Derek then goes outside & can't see him either. We stay up looking out the door for about 45 minutes & then decide it is time to go to bed. We climb into bed & a few minutes later hear the garbage can lid again. By this time it is 12:45 & we decide we could care less about the racoon & go to bed. Sorry no footage of our little buddy, although the shrimp were gone off the deck this morning.

The Good & Bad About Humidity

Since this is our first summer here in Illinois, it is the first time we have experienced humidity day in & day out. So I would like to go over the good & the bad about humidity.
Good Things- Play dough does not dry out. This is a major plus if you are 3 years old.
Your skin does not get dry!! Major plus for anyone!! When humidity is 20-30% it feels kind of like a hug.
Bad Things- When humidity is high it no longer feels like a hug, but more like a huge steamy
weight. Not so great. If you have curly or wavy hair like myself or my girls, your hair tends to get bigger & bigger through out the day. So you better carry some hairspray to smooth out your quaff. So there you have it, my personal opinion on humidity.

Tornadoes

Let's hear it for being scared to death, but surviving two nights of tornado warnings. Saturday June 7th we had a tornado alarm go off, but since we are new to this I just thought it was the lightning alarm from either the golf course or the swimming pool. So Saturday wasn't all that bad because we didn't really know what was going on. Sunday was a lot worse, because when we heard the alarm going off we knew that this was an actual tornado warning. Both nights the amount of rain, thunder & lightning were insane. Derek & I just stood at the front door watching it for awhile. Yes, now we know that you should not be outside or near windows during a tornado warning. Again we are new at this.

Key Lime Cove

A couple of weekends ago Derek surprised the family with a mini vacation. We went to Key Lime Cove, which is a Hotel that has an indoor waterpark. It's like a Raging Waters inside. Which is kindof nice since we live in the coldest place on earth. We had a blast!!

Golf seems to be all Derek & Gray can think about. Gray has just completed his golf lessons & seemed to really enjoy it. And Derek was lucky enough to golf at Whistling Straits (it is apparently a really nice golf course in Wisconsin.)